I didn't pick it up but I think I know what you mean about being able to see if the neck was broken. I was about to reach down, but I'd been nursing an infected finger cut since before the trip even started, so I figured I'd give hygiene a try and leave the dead stuff alone. I just gave it a toe push and don't remember if the neck was limp or not.

Anyhow, I learned some stuff in this thread, and I got some laughs too. I suppose I'll end this with a killer pic from this trip...perhaps the best sunset ever (not photoshopped! -- credit goes to Brad Rogers):

No obvious signs of trauma, but we have big picture windows and when the outisde reflections are strong, we get bird strikes. They don't appear "broken" in their head, neck, etc, although I haven't tried to comparing them to other dead birds.

So I'm liking the theory of it hitting a tree while engaging another bird as prey.

I'm gonna go with a Cooper's Hawk but it would help if there was an object of known size in the photo.

Granted, we don't have Prairie Merlins in MN but from photos I see they have more (and more closely spaced) dark bands across the tail than accipiters. Also, I'm also not seeing a falcon's tomial tooth on the upper beak mandrel but the photo angle is not ideal for that.

The long toes would be found on both falcons and accipiters so that doesn't help.

So, if it IS a sharp-shinned or cooper's then the barrel shaped body argues for a cooper's (sharp-shinned are teardrop shaped, broader shoulders and narrower hips). The photo angle is not so good for seeing head shape but it appears to have the cooper's trademarked flat topped head.

A murder of Crow or Raven could have killed it protecting their chicks?

If the location is near where Radio controlled glider pilots are it could have tangled with a glider?

I use to fly slope gliders near where red tail hawks fly when I flew RC glider. I always kept my distance but some times the hawks would swoop down and hit my 2 to 3 pound slope gliders with a thud and the hawk would usually recover from the crash and go on to protect it territory.

Or simple answer is birds just die after a while of old age or decease?Terry